Glad you could make it...

Welcome to my little slice of the web. Below is the brief synopsis of who I am, where I've been, and what I've done along the way. Proceeding in reverse chronological order...

I'm 35 years old, and I hail from a lovely little place called Northport, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. I work for ExelonGeneration as a Reactor Operator at Limerick Generating Station. The training to get my NRC license was long (nearly two years) and mentally arduous, but well worth it in the end. I came to Limerick after a brief stint in Findlay, Ohio, as an electrician with Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. While I'm thankful for the opportunity that Cooper gave me, I quickly realized that it wasn't the fight fit for me over the long term.

I took the job at Cooper Tire after a long and frustrating period of unemployment, after receiving my Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Hofstra University. It sort of fell into my lap, being in the right place at the right time, and I'm incredibly grateful to Hofstra for giving me a second chance at college.

Prior to going to Hofstra, I served a six year enlistment in the United States Navy. I separated as an Electronics Technician First Class (ET1); I spent the majority of my service in Reactor Control Division on USS Memphis (SSN 691), I originally agreed to enlist in January of 2003, and officially came on active duty in May of that year. I completed Nuclear Field "A" School at the end of January 2004. I was the honorman of my NFAS class, and the good fortune continued in Nuclear Power School, from which I graduated in November 2004, finishing fourth out of a class of 340. That was followed by six months at Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa, New York, training on an actual reactor plant, and qualifying as a Reactor Operator. I then reported to Groton, Connecticut, to meet Memphis; I officially joined her crew in September 2005, and my time aboard her has included part of a six-month deployment and two shorter "surge" deployments. as well as a Pre-Inactivation Restricted Availability at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. There's a bit more about my time in the Navy here.

While I waited to ship to boot camp I worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, one of the world's premier genetic research facilities. My work had absolutely nothing to do with any sort of biology. I did many varied tasks in the facilities department, which provides all manner of support to the scientific staff.

Before I decided to answer my country's call and "accelerate my life," I attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York for three years. While there, I was a proud member of the Big Red Bones, part of the Big Red Marching Band and Pep Band. I also was a member of the sports department at WVBR, an independent radio station run by Cornell students. Despite my failure to graduate, I still deeply love Cornell, and have been fortunate to make it back there for homecoming several times in the last decade.

Before Cornell was high school, specifically Northport High School. Much like NFAS, I had little trouble academically - but the social side was another story. Fortunately, the passage of time has given me better perspective, and reduced most of the bitterness and anger I held inside from this time in my life.

That's really as far back as I'm inclined to go right now. Maybe if I get more time and a bit better memory I'll explore the formative years a little more. But likely not, since I can no longer recall how many years that previous sentence has been included on this page.